This invention relates to a light stage or chamber wherein objects to be photographed can be placed and receive controlled illumination.
Photographers, and particularly commercial photographers, must often be able to control the lighting conditions surrounding the object which is to be photographed. When a commercial photographer is taking pictures to be used in a catalog or advertisement, one of the most difficult and time consuming aspects of the job is to insure that the lighting conditions are such that the object to be photographed is displayed in the best possible manner. If a change in the lighting conditions is required for a different subject or effect, the lighting changes must be made easily and efficiently.
In the past, a photographer would often choose to construct what is commonly referred to as a "light tent". This usually required the installation and positioning of several separate, large, balky screens surrounding the object to be photographed, with lights suspended from the ceiling of the studio or mounted on stands as, for example, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 523,323 and U.S. Pat. No. 384,151. These arrangements not only require a great deal of time and expertise to assemble, but also the resulting photograph usually requires extensive "touch up" or "air brushing" to remove undesirable shadows and shadow lines. These undesirable features result from uneven lighting within the tent, particularly at the junctions between the screens and with the floor. This means loss of valuable time and money to a commercial photographer.
Other assemblies used to produce controlled illumination are either too clumsy to use and modify or too inefficient with respect to the amount of light required, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,447,475, or do not provide the complete flexibility with respect to background scenery or equal illumination on all sides, such as that device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,643,085. Furthermore, with many of these light tents, the common use of incandescent light sources within the enclosed tent creates an accumulation of heat which hinders and sometimes precludes continuous work for long periods of time.
Thus, there is a need for and it is an object of this invention to provide a portable, integrally constructed apparatus which provides easily controlled lighting conditions and maximizes lighting efficiency. It is a further object of this invention to provide a lighting apparatus wherein a variety of background scenes can be used behind the object to be photographed with a minimum of assembly time. Yet another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which provides equal illumination of the object to be photographed such that even a novice photographer can produce a shadowless photograph which requires little or no touch up.